Radio Taiwan International
Date: 22 May, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

Taiwan’s outlying islands now have analyzers that will speed up testing for COVID-19. Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration recently approved the domestically-developed analyzer, which can detect the COVID-19 virus in 85 minutes through an expedited nucleic acid testing process.

The Food and Drug Administration says that older methods of nucleic acid testing require substantial processing that takes up time and resources. This is a problem in Taiwan’s outlying islands, because they don’t receive the medical resources that local authorities on Taiwan proper do. As a result, the outlying islands’ testing capabilities have lagged behind those of Taiwan proper.    [FULL  STORY]

The Hill
Date: 05/22/20
By: Dov S. Zakeim

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did the right thing when he congratulated Tsai Ing-wen on her inauguration for a second term as president of Taiwan. As Pompeo rightly stated, President Tsai leads a “vibrant democracy.” Indeed, since 1996 Taiwan has witnessed seven consecutive free presidential elections and four peaceful transfers of power between the country’s two leading parties, the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

The DPP, which president Tsai leads, has been a vocal advocate of Taiwanese independence; in practice, however, it has been more cautious in its relationship with the mainland. President Tsai essentially reiterated that stance in her inaugural address, emphasizing that “both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term,” and adding, “I want to reiterate the words ‘peace, parity, democracy and dialogue.’” 

Nevertheless, when she also asserted that “we will not accept the Beijing authorities’ use of ‘one country, two systems’ to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo,” she triggered outrage in Beijing, which has never dropped its insistence that the island is nothing more than a breakaway province. 

It is, therefore, hardly surprising that Pompeo’s congratulatory message also infuriated Beijing. The Chinese foreign ministry complained that Pompeo had the gall to refer to Tsai as “president” and asserted that his message “constitute[s] a severe violation of the One China principle … and a serious interference in China’s internal affairs. … There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory.”     [FULL  STORY]

Sister of victim criticizes Australian police and airport personnel for placing urn upside down

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/22
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The sister of a Taiwanese woman who died of unknown causes during a working holiday in Australia on Wednesday (May 20) urged the Taiwan government to ask Australian police to investigate further.

According to Yahoo News, a 29-year-old Taiwanese woman surnamed Yeh (葉) was found dead on Jan. 17 at her apartment in Western Australia by her boyfriend, who had been out meeting friends. Yeh's family said Australian police promised to treat her death as homicide, but had neither contacted them nor provided any updates.

In a Facebook post published Wednesday, Yeh's sister said there was a delay in the ambulance's arrival and local police failed to close off the crime scene even after ruling out Yeh’s suicide. She added that Yeh's roommate, who had been living in Australia for several years, had returned to Taiwan and could not be contacted.

The sister said she had agreed to cremate Yeh's body but was stunned when she discovered Australian airport staff had placed the urn opposite down in a paper box. She said she was heartbroken by the careless handling of Yeh's ashes and was even more surprised by the indifference of Taiwan customs officers.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/22/2020
By: Wang Shu-fen, Chen Chao-fu, Chen Chi-chung and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, May 22 (CNA) The torrential rainfall that drenched Taiwan on Friday could ease up on Saturday, but heavy rainfall could still affect the central and southern parts of the country, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) warned.

Taiwan is likely to see less rainfall over the weekend as the plum rain front that brought the deluge moves south toward the Bashi Channel and southeasterly winds weaken, forecasters said.

According to the CWB, northern Taiwan and low-lying areas in central Taiwan should see milder weather, though they could still get heavy rain, defined by the CWB as more than 80 millimeters of rainfall over a 24 hour-period or 40 mm of rainfall in one hour.

Mountainous areas in central Taiwan and low-lying areas in southern Taiwan could see extremely heavy rain, which the CWB defines as more than 200 mm of rainfall over a 24 hour-period or over 100 mm in three hours.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 21 May, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

A group of ten overseas Taiwanese communities has printed an ad in the Washington Times calling on the US government to establish diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

The ad says that Taiwan is one of just five countries with which the US has no diplomatic ties. It also highlights Taiwan’s early warning to the WHO about COVID-19 and the high levels of political and economic freedom Taiwan enjoys, as measured by think tanks. It says the time has come to change Taiwan’s limited international recognition due to Chinese pressure.

Washington based lobby group Formosan Association for Public Affairs is one of the groups behind the ad. It says it has witnessed the gradual normalization in Taiwan-US relations over the last four years. The association says that with its contribution to helping the US fight COVID-19, Taiwan has shown that it is a country that warrants diplomatic recognition.    [FULL  STORY]

Nikkei Asian Review
Date: May 20, 2020
By: Nike Ching

STATE DEPARTMENT – The United States said its strong and bipartisan support for Taiwan’s democracy “comports with” the U.S.-China agreements and is “the right solution to maximize the stability” of the Taiwan Strait.  

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday congratulated Taiwan’s democratically elected President Tsai Ing-wen as she began her second term.  

This handout picture taken on May 20, 2020 by the Taiwan Presidential office shows Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen speaking at the Taipei Guest House as part of her inauguration for her second term as in office, in Taipei.

“We congratulated the winner of the election there. We were happy to see that,” Pompeo said in response to a question from VOA during a State Department news briefing.      [FULL  STORY]

National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung to move graduation ceremony to neighboring beach

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ministry of Education on Thursday (May 21) sent a document to schools and local governments, stating that large-scale school activities such as graduation ceremonies will not be limited by previous restrictions specifying a maximum of 100 people indoors and 500 outdoors at gatherings.

However, the document also stated that participants should still observe the social distancing rule of keeping at least 1.5 meters apart indoors and 1 meter apart outdoors, Liberty Times reported. The ministry advised participants to wear masks when social distancing is impracticable.

The ministry also stated that participants should have their temperatures checked when attending school activities — be they indoor or outdoor.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/21/2020
By: Su Ssu-yun and Frances Huang

Taipei, May 21 (CNA) Taipei 101, one of the leading shopping centers in Taiwan, said Thursday that as the country has done so well at preventing the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease, its shopping mall will resume normal business hours from June after reducing operations for the past two months.

In response to calls from the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) for people in Taiwan to increase social activity but maintain social distancing and wear face masks in public, as concerns over the virus spread have eased, Taipei 101, a major tourism attraction, will open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Friday to Sunday, starting June 1.

The shopping center cut its business hours by 1.5 to 2 hours a day from April 6, by opening from noon to 9 p.m. every day amid concerns over the contagion.

Housed in Taiwan's tallest skyscraper, the shopping mall was the first in Taiwan to reduce operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has heavily affected business in Taipei's bustling Xinyi District.    [FULL  STORY]

POINT-TO-POINT: A lawmaker said that drivers would not be convinced about the validity of fines if uncertified and error-prone equipment collects speeding evidence

Taipei Times
Date: May 22, 2020
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

Legislators yesterday called for average speed control systems to be suspended, as no standards have been established to ensure the accuracy of data collected in the technique to capture vehicle velocities.

The system, a “point-to-point” speed measurement, calculates average speed using the times at which a vehicle passes two recording devices and the distance between the devices.

However, the Changhua County Police Department last month canceled 3,627 speeding tickets issued on a section of the Sibin Expressway (Highway No. 61) due to errors in the system. Since then, eight of the nine cities and counties that have such systems in place have suspended their use.

New Taipei City is still running such systems in the Wanli Tunnel (萬里隧道), on the Beiyi Highway, on Expressway No. 64 and on Huanhe Road in Sindian District (新店).    [FULL  STORY]